London’s budget hotel sector is booming. The global financial crisis prompted a development spree among the big low-cost brands and, according to a Visit London report, the sector now represents 20% of the capital’s total hotel market (in comparison, hostels only represent 2%). Premier Inn has 72 hotels in Greater London, Travelodge has 67, Holiday Inn 38 and Ibis 24; and all brands continue to expand: a fifth Hub by Premier Inn is set to open on Goodge Street, Fitzrovia, for example; Ibis Styles is opening in west London; while Z hotels is adding Covent Garden and Soho to its collection of listed townhouses in 2018.
But development isn’t just about increasing the numbers; these brands have started to pay closer attention to design, meaning a stay in a budget hotel need not be the soul-destroying experience it once was. Ibis Styles, for example, has gone for a West End musical theme at its Southwark hotel; and at Motel One guests sip cocktails in a low-lit modern bar. Travelodge, however, could do with upping its game if it wants to compete with rivals on looks.
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Taken over and refurbished in 2016 by Accor under its “economy and design” brand ibis Styles, this 114-room hotel manages to feel nothing like a budget chain. There’s no reception desk, just an iPad-wielding greeter in a space decked out with baby grand piano, repurposed theatre seats, vintage spotlights and gramophone horn light fittings. The West End musical theme continues upstairs: a keycard in a holder designed like a theatre ticket lets you into a room that, though budget-size, is huge fun thanks to red velvet drapes like stage curtains, a blowup monochrome photo of theatreland on one wall and a silhouette of a dancing girl on the bare-brick effect paper of another.
Bowler hat lampshades, a retro phone and swivel chair add to the effect. The door to the compact shower room also makes the loo into a separate cubicle, so one partner can be showering or brushing teeth while the other is, ahem, enthroned.
Closest Landmarks
• Kilburn Park Tube Station
• Lord’s Cricket Ground
• Hampstead Theatre
• Maida Vale Tube Station
• London Heathrow Airport
• St John’s Wood Tube Station
Unlike the bedrooms and reception, the bar and restaurant have still not been refurbished from when this was the Southwark Rose hotel. Dinner is the usual “international” menu that few will bother with given the wealth of choice nearby. The buffet breakfast is substantial, with appealing extras such as french toast with a shot of maple syrup.
It’s close to foodie hotspot Borough Market, but is just as handy for Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe and Southwark Cathedral. London Bridge station/tube station and Southwark tube station (Jubilee line) are both less than half a mile away. Eating options within staggering distance of the hotel include new Portuguese cerveijaria-style Bar Douro, and the well-regarded restaurant at Menier Chocolate Factory, worth a trip for non-theatregoers for the calm that settles over the tables after punters go in to watch the show.
Impressive given the location and high style. Views of the Shard, with trains rumbling over the Thames, leave no doubt that you are close to the beating heart of a capital city.
